The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the largest kidney patient organization in the nation, today announced full open access to expert video and webinar presentations on COVID-19 and the Delta variant featuring top medical, academic, and government experts discussing the threat to kidney patients and kidney health posed by the disease. COVID-19 is a particular threat to those suffering from underlying chronic diseases including kidney diseases, kidney failure, and immunocompromised and immunosuppressed kidney patients on dialysis and living with kidney transplants. AAKP represents the largest number of kidney transplant patients and living organ donor families in the United States. Over the course of the past eighteen months, AAKP has led patient and public education efforts on various aspects of COVID-19 including the need for greater patient inclusion in clinical trials, how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and interventions such as the COVID-19 vaccines and the recent FDA approval of a third vaccine dose for kidney transplant patients (read now). The organization works closely with federal agencies, researchers, and clinicians to encourage greater use of patient insight data in kidney treatment innovations (read CJASN Patient Voice article) and care (read CJASN Patient Voice article).

"For over 50 years, AAKP has been dedicated to providing kidney patients, their families, and the general public with timely information on safety, disease treatment, and prevention. As an independent advocacy organization, we are honored to have such a diverse range of national experts generously assisting us, on a volunteer basis, with our effort to encourage vaccination and safety protocol awareness among highly vulnerable kidney patients and their families," stated Diana Clynes, AAKP Executive Director.

Most recently, AAKP produced a webinar on the Delta variant, vaccines, and kidney patients featuring Dr. Robert Montgomery, an internationally known heart transplant recipient and transplant surgeon who serves as Chair and Professor of Surgery at the New York Langone Transplant Institute. That webinar has already received thousands of views (Watch OnDemand). Throughout the fall of 2021, AAKP will be adding additional open access expert content on the threat COVID-19 and the Delta variant poses to kidney patients, as well as the severe medical risk the Delta variant poses to the kidney health of every American. AAKP conducts the largest virtual kidney patient education meeting in the United States and the event this year will feature issues including COVID-19 related concerns. The AAKP Annual National Patient Meeting will be held on September 24-25, 2021, and free registration is available here: https://bit.ly/AAKPNationalPatientMeeting2021. AAKP patient volunteers, Board Members, and Ambassadors are internationally and nationally known for their leadership and engagement in kidney research and advocacy and AAKP recently produced a curated reading list of Patient Voice editorials written by AAKP members that have appeared over the past several years in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, alongside corresponding peer reviewed research articles.

MOST RECENT COVID-19 EDUCATION: VACCINES AND 3RD DOSE, FDA ACTIONS, AND MORE

• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Delta Virus, Vaccines, & Kidney Patients: Ongoing Threats to Weak Immune Systems and Kidney Transplants (08/24/2021) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Dr. Robert Montgomery, Chair & Professor of Surgery, New York Langone Transplant Institute
• AAKP Patient Impact Statement: News! CDC Embraces FDA Authorization of Third Vaccine Dose for Kidney Transplant Patients (08/13/2021) Read Now
• AAKP Patient Impact Statement: FDA Approval of Third Vaccine Dose for Kidney Transplant Patients (08/13/2021) Read Now
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Coronavirus and Kidney Patient Update on Vaccinations and Mutation Strains: A CDC Expert Webinar hosted by AAKP (03/24/2021) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Ana Cecilia Bardossy, MD; Medical Officer, Dialysis Safety Team Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and Shannon Novosad, MD, MPH; Medical Officer, Dialysis Safety Team Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Kidney Patients and the COVID-19 Vaccine (01/26/2021) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Deidre C. Crews, MD, MsC; Associate Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion, Department of Medicine; Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University of Medicine and Michael Alan Rees, MD, PhD; Director, Renal Transplantation, University of Toledo; CEO, Alliance for Paired Donation
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Coronavirus and Kidney Patients Update - A CDC Expert Webinar hosted by AAKP (08/25/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Shannon Novosad, MD, MPH; Medical Officer, Dialysis Safety Team Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• AAKP Global Summit Session: Coronavirus: Treatment Immunosuppressed Populations during a Global Pandemic (07/16/2020)Click to Watch
  Featuring: Olivia Kates, MD, University of Washington

COVID-19 AND AMERICA'S VETERANS

• AAKP National Patient Meeting: America's Veterans: Kidney Health During COVID-19 (09/11/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Rudy Rodriguez, MD; Chair, ABIM Nephrology Specialty Board; Vice-Chair, Dept. of Medicine, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, State of Washington
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: VA Kidney Program's Response to COVID-19 (05/21/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Susan Crowley, MD, MBA, FASN; Professor of Medicine (Nephrology); VHA National Program Director for Kidney Disease and Dialysis; Chief, Renal Section, VA Connecticut Healthcare Systems
• Coronavirus: Observations of Healthcare Systems Responses to Pandemic (Nonprofit, Private and VA) (07/17/2021) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Stephen Fadem, MD, FASN, FACP; Chair, AAKP Medical Advisory Board

COVID-19 RESPONSE AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• AAKP Global Summit: Coronavirus: Kidney Community Stakeholder Response to Global Pandemic (07/16/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Alan Kliger, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, and Vice President, Chief Quality Officer, Yale New Haven Health System, Chair Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety; Emily Blumberg, MD, Transplant Infectious Diseases specialist, Director of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Program and Infectious Diseases Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, Immediate Past President, American Society of Transplantation
• AAKP Global Summit: Coronavirus: America's Largest Kidney Innovation Collaborative Responds (07/16/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Melissa West, Acting Vice President, Research, Discovery and Innovation; Kidney Health Initiative, American Society of Nephrology
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Fighting Coronavirus Upstream: What Early-Stage Kidney Disease Patients Need to Know (04/29/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Stephen Fadem, MD, FASN, FACP; Chair, AAKP Medical Advisory Board

COVID-19 PRACTICAL ISSUES AND SPECIFIC PATIENT AND FAMILY CONCERNS

• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: COVID-19: Kidney Patient Planning for a Safe Holiday Season (11/17/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Jeffrey Silberzweig, MD, Chief Medical Officer, The Rogosin Institute
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Back to School: COVID-19 Considerations for Pediatric Kidney Patients & Kidney Patient Households (08/27/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: David Hains, MD; Chief, Division of Pediatric Nephrology for Children Indiana University School of Medicine; Suzie Hedrick, RN, Shift Coordinator in the Pediatric Dialysis Unit, Riley Hospital for Children; and Emily Whitacre, mother to 6-year-old transplant recipient, Henry
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Nutrition & COVID-19: The Importance of Keeping it Kidney Friendly (06/03/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Barry H. Smith, MD, PhD; President & CEO, Dreyfus Health Policy and Research Center and Nancy Uhland, FNP-C, DNP; Program Manager, Dreyfus Health Policy and Research Center
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Mental Health Management During COVID-19 (05/29/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Renee Bova-Collis, MSW, LCSW; Patient Services Director, Quality Insights Renal Network 5
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Taking Care of Your Dialysis Access During the COVID-19 Pandemic (04/17/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Ari D. Kramer, MD, Spartanburg Medical Center and Gerald A. Beathard, MD, PhD, FACP, FCPA, FASN, FASDIN; University of Texas Medical Branch, Interventional Nephrology Program
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Coronavirus and Transplant Patients: Get the Facts, Save a Life - Hosted by AAKP in partnership with American Society of Transplantation and American Society of Transplant Surgeons (04/10/2020)Click to Watch
  Featuring: Emily Blumberg, MD; Past President, American Society of Transplantation; Transplant Infectious Diseases Specialists & Director, Transplant Infectious Diseases Program & Infectious Diseases Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania and Lloyd Ratner, MD, MPH, FACS; Past President, American Society of Transplant Surgeons; Professor of Surgery, Director of Renal & Pancreatic Transplantation, Columbia University

COVID-19 AND TELEMEDICINE

• AAKP Global Summit: Coronavirus: Accelerating the Adoption of Telehealth & Telemedicine (07/16/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Janice Lea, MD, MSc, FASN, Professor of Medicine, Emory University, Chief Medical Director, Emory Dialysis; AAKP National Board of Director
• AAKP Global Summit: Coronavirus: Transitioning Patients from Telehealth & Telemedicine Back to In-person Care (07/16/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Neal Sikka, MD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Emergency Medicine; Program Director, Mobile Health Care: Innovations in Telemedicine; George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
• AAKP HealthLine Webinar: Telemedicine Utilization in the COVID-19 Era: What Patients Should Know (05/20/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Amber Paulus, PhD, RN, CPHQ, Rebecca J. Schmidt, DO, FACP, FASN; Janice Lea, MD, MSC, FASN; Irfan Agha, MD, MRCP (UK); Patrick O. Gee, Sr., PhD, JLC

COVID-19 POLICY ISSUES, CLINICAL TRIALS, AND PATIENT INCLUSION

• AAKP Public Comment: National Academies of Sciences' draft COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Framework (09/02/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring Paul T. Conway, AAKP Chair of Policy and Global Affairs
• Clinical Trials: Expanding Opportunities for All Kidney Patients in the Midst of COVID-19 and Beyond (07/19/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Janice Lea, MD, MSc, FASN, Professor of Medicine, Emory University, Chief Medical Director, Emory Dialysis; AAKP National Board of Director and Anna Greka, MD, PhD; Institute Member, Director of the Kidney Disease Initiative, Broad Institute of MIT
• AAKP Global Summit: How Innovation and Community Engagement Furthers Kidney Research at NIDDK (07/16/2020) Click to Watch
  Featuring: Griffin P. Rodgers, MD, MACP, Director, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
• Thoughts on Juneteenth, from AAKP President Richard Knight (06/19/2020) Read Now
• Diversity & Inclusion in COVID-19 Trials: Insights & Tactics (06/09/2020), Presented by Richard Knight, AAKP President during partner webinar with CTTI Click to Watch